Dead Day.

After we had updated the blog, we returned to Four Courts and slept heavily until five-thirty the next morning, when we awoke to begin preparing for 80's return to Wales.

After everything had been arranged in the dim light of pre-dawn (awkward, since we had to make as little noise as possible in the large dorm room, and wound up mouthing most of our conversation), we struck out for downtown, having been supplied a list of ways to get to Dublin Airport on a Sunday morning.

Since I was on a day pass and had no other plans, I rode out to the airport with her and we said our goodbyes before I returned to the city center. I got back around 9:30, and spent the rest of the day. . . well, dead.

At Mercer (and many other private schools) there is a day between the body of the semester and the week in which finals are conducted. On this day (at Mercer it is always a Wednesday) no group is allowed to meet, no classes are held, and no tests are given. It is meant as a day of rest and recuperation and study to prepare for the coming exams. The academic calendars usually call this day "Reading day", but the students know it by its proper name: Dead day.

I had survived my trip. My travels were coming to an end. Soon the final tests would begin as I would try to get to London and fly back to the States. This Sunday served as my dead day. I had intended to do a little sight-seeing. Maybe even day-trip out of town, but my fatigue caught up with me, and I divided the day between only four tasks.

I went shopping and bought my food for the next two days in Dublin.

I then alternated between wandering down to Chill-Out to update (knocking out a few more days in the process), reading Angels and Demons (the latest Dan Brown atrocity) and cooking lunch and dinner. On the way to Chill-Out, just before dinner, I was given the inspiration for Cat Calls? (thanks, whoever you are).

This vacation from touring served me well--recharging my batteries and giving me fresh energy for the days ahead.

I had decided that I would be a fool not to visit the Guinness Brewery and Storehouse while I was in Dublin, so before I went to sleep, I resolved to make this my primary goal for the following day.